White House Contradicts Trump: No Immediate Putin Meeting Scheduled

The Trump administration has contradicted the president’s own announcement regarding a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with a US official stating Tuesday that no such encounter is planned for the immediate future. The clarification comes days after Trump declared on social media that he would meet Putin within two weeks in Budapest.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, a conversation initially intended to arrange the logistics for a Trump-Putin summit. However, US officials have now determined that no additional in-person meeting between the secretaries is necessary, and consequently, no imminent presidential meeting will occur.
The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, characterized the Rubio-Lavrov telephone discussion as “productive,” though specific outcomes were not disclosed. Russian officials have similarly dampened expectations, with the Kremlin announcing Tuesday that there is no “precise timeframe” for organizing a meeting between the two presidents.
The diplomatic confusion originated from a Thursday phone call between Trump and Putin, which the American president portrayed as a significant diplomatic achievement. Trump’s optimism led him to quickly post on social media that he would meet Putin in Budapest within two weeks, an announcement made just before his scheduled meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Trump’s approach to Putin has undergone several dramatic reversals, including his August decision to welcome Putin to Alaska for the Russian leader’s first visit to Western soil since launching the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite Trump’s previous claims that his personal relationship with Putin would enable him to end the war within a day of returning to office, the president has recently acknowledged experiencing frustrations in dealing with his Russian counterpart.